Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Europe Adventure: Day Fifteen, Part Two- First night in France

 Enterprise picked us up and then took us back to the office to do the paperwork. 
The woman was very nice. She didn't speak a lot of English but enough that we could understand each other and discuss everything. 
It was pretty funny- I got a minivan. 
It was weird to be driving on the left side of the car and right side of the road again. 
I got my mom to take a few phone pictures as we drove from Cherbourg to our hotel in Pontorson. 








We kept seeing these things on the side of the road and laughing as they looked like a Doctor Who villain to us. 
 





We stayed in the Best Western Hotel Montgomery.

This hotel was right on main street with parking in a lot behind it. 
It was a beautiful place. 
It was very old and the man at reception made sure to tell us to pay attention to the 16th century staircase. It almost felt a bit haunted as the lights came on in the hallways as you walked. 
It was once the home of the Counts of Montgomery, originally from Scotland. 
Gabriel the 1st accidentally killed King Henry the 2nd during a jousting tournament.  
I picked this hotel based on the good price, the pictures, and the fact that it was only about a ten minute drive from Mont St. Michel.
 

I asked the man at reception in french if he spoke english since my french is very basic. 
He replied in a strong English accent, "I'll jolly well give it a shot!" 
It was very funny. 
 

The walkway between the courtyard and the reception. 
You could feel the history. 
 

Our room. Not the most fancy of our rooms but still nice and comfortable. 
 




After checking in and settling our things into our room, we drove over to Mont St. Michel. 
It was amazing to see it in person. 
However, the abbey was closed so we just looked and then drove back to our town.


the buildings around our parking lot...
 


We walked down the main street looking for a place to eat. 
But everything was closed already. It was around 6:30-7pm.
 
 We saw this sign across the road from our hotel.
Since it talks about our hotel I got a picture. 
It reads:
"This hotel was once the home of the Earls of Montgomery, whose most illustrious Gabriel 1st (1530-1574) mortally wounded Henry 2nd of France at a tournament. The floors, painted ceilings, woodwork, and grand staircase are as many works dating from this period."

Once we realized we weren't going to find anything to eat around our hotel, we got back in the car to drive around and try to find something. 
I went down a wrong road at one point and it ended at this cool barn that was falling apart. 
 


We couldn't find anything that was open so we ended up going to a store we saw and picking out some things. 
There is my mini van behind the teeniest car I have ever seen. 
We bought some chicken wraps, pringles, and ice cream. 
It was kind of fun as we used only french while buying our things. 
 

We went back to our hotel and got some drinks from a machine- sprite and water. 
Then we went up to our room and ate our little dinner while watching some Doctor Who. 

The view of the parking lot from our room: 
 

the courtyard: 
 

Looking across the roofs to a nearby church. 
 





So beautiful!

2 comments:

The Kings said...

Again...so many memories and so awesome to remember through your photos! I thought the Inn was so lovely and that staircase was so cool to walk on. So glad we got to go there!

Cheryl said...

Yes. It was very cool. Me too!